House door latching device

ABSTRACT

A latching device is disclosed comprising a pair of brackets having their inner portions mounted in a door gap with the inner portion of one attached to the door and the inner portion of the other attached to the door frame in opposing relationship. The brackets are each formed of a thin sheet of steel and their inner portions are designed so that they can interfit in a common plane within the door gap so as to require a minimum of clearance and thus eliminate the need for mortising either the door or the door frame in order to install the latching device. The outer portion of each of the brackets is formed by bending the thin sheet of steel back on itself to provide a channel for receiving a strip of steel which serves to reinforce the outer portion. Each of the outer portions of the brackets is provided with a suitable slot for receiving the lower end of a latch pin which is loosely held by its upper end on one of the brackets.

United States Patent 1 Haxton 51 May 22,1973

1541 HOUSE DOOR LATCHING DEVICE 21 Appl. No.: 217,803

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,163,237 9/1969 Great Britain 292/281 Primary ExaminerMarvin A. Champion Assistant ExaminerWilliam F. Pate, III Attorney-John T. Matlago [57] ABSTRACT A latching device is disclosed comprising a pair of brackets having their inner portions mounted in a door gap with the inner portion of one attached to the door and the inner portion of the other attached to the door frame in opposing relationship. The brackets are each formed of a thin sheet of steel and their inner portions are designed so that they can interfit in a common plane within the door gap so as to require a minimum of clearance and thus eliminate the need for mortising either the door or the door frame in order to install the latching device. The outer portion of each of the brackets is formed by bending the thin sheet of steel back on itself to provide a channel for receiving a strip of steel which serves to reinforce the outer portion. Each of the outer portions of the brackets is provided with a suitable slot for receiving the lower end of a latch pin which is loosely held by its upper end on one of the brackets.

8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures HOUSE DOOR LATCHING DEVICE This invention relates to latching devices and more particularly to a latching device especially adapted for use in securing a house door, for example.

In order to deter burglars from gaining access into a home by forcing the conventional lock on a door, there is a need for a simple, low cost latching device which can be easily installed for fastening on the inside of the door. A latching device that is admirably suitable for such purposes is the type that is installed in the door gap of the doorway. Such a latching device has the advantage that the attachment parts for the device can be secured in the door gap by screws oriented at 90 degrees to the force applied to open the door, thus adding to the security and durability thereof.

One of the reasons many home dwellers are hesitant about taking advantage of the additional security obtained by providing such a latching device on a door is due to the difficulty and expense of its installation. This results from the fact that the conventional door gap is so small that in order for the latching device to be mounted for use it is necessary to mortise either the door or the door frame, an operation which the average home dweller is not able to easily perform himself.

It is thus seen that it is desirable to provide a low cost latching device having attachment portions which can be readily installed within the clearance space provided by the conventional door gap and yet be of a sufficiently strong design to provide the security desired in such a latching device.

Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple, low cost door latching device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door latching device which can be easily installed in the conventional gap provided between the lock side of the door and the door frame.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gap mounted type door latching device comprised of a pair of brackets formed of thin steel sheets that can interfit in a common plane within a door gap so as to require a minimum of clearance and thus eliminate the need for mortising the door or the door frame in order to install the latching device.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device whereby the objects contemplated are obtained as herein set forth, pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating portions of a door and door frame with their vertical sides exploded apart in order to show the respective brackets of the latching device of the present invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the cooperative relationship of the brackets of the latching device when the door is in a closed position within the door frame;

FIG. 3 is a vertical end view of the latching device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the latching device as taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the latching device as taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an alternate embodiment of the upper portion of the door frame bracket; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the latching device showing a padlock positioned with its shackle in the slot thereof.

Referring to the drawings, the latching device of the present invention comprises a door bracket 11 and a door frame bracket 12. The door bracket 11 is formed from a generally rectangular thin sheet of steel having a flat, inner portion 13 and an outer portion 14 which is formed by bending the sheet back on itself to provide a channel 15. The door frame bracket 12 which has a wider vertical dimension than the bracket 11 is likewise formed from a generally rectangular thin sheet of steel having an inner portion provided with a central cutout 16 leaving spaced, flat sides 17 and 18 and an outer portion 20 which is formed by bending the sheet back on itself to provide a channel 21.

A reinforcing steel strip 22, which may be thicker than the sheet of steel used for the bracket 11, is disposed within the channel 15 of the outer portion 14 of the door bracket 11 and secured therein by rivets 24 passing through holes 25 on the outer portion 14. A similar reinforcing steel strip 27 is disposed within the channel 21 of the outer portion 20 of the door frame bracket 12 and secured therein by rivets 29 passing through holes 30 in the outer portion 20. It should be noted that the respective outer portions 14 and 20 of the brackets 11 and 12 are each bent outwardly in the areas 19 and 23 where they integrally join their respective inner portion such that when the brackets are held in cooperative relationship the opposing parallel surfaces of the outer portions are displaced from each other.

A vertically disposed slot 42 extends through the outer portion 14 of the door bracket 11 and a similarly shaped slot 43 extends through the outer portion 20 of the door frame bracket 12. An eyelet 45 has a stem 46 (FIG. 5) which passes through a hole 50 provided on the upper end of the outer portion 20 of the door frame bracket 12. The free end of the stem 46 is flattened to secure the eyelet 45 in the bracket 12. A latch pin 47 comprised of a short length of steel wire having a knob 48 on the upper end thereof is loosely held within the eyelet 45. The lower portion of latch pin 47 is bent to form a short, horizontal portion 52 terminating with a vertical lower-end 53. As best shown in FIG. 3, the upper portion of latch pin 47 is slightly bent on the side opposite the horizontal portion 52 away from the vertical plane of the latching device.

The inner portion 13 of the door bracket 11 is held onto the vertical side surface 31 of the door 32 by flat head wood screws 34 passing through holes 35. The spaced sides 17 and 18 comprising the inner portion of the door frame bracket 12 are held onto the vertical side surface 36 of the door frame 38 by flat head wood screws 39 passing through holes 40 thereof. It should be noted that the holes 35 and 40 are countersunk to enable the heads of the screws 34 and 39 to be even with the surfaces of the respective inner portions of the brackets.

When the door 32 is closed the brackets 11 and 12 are positioned adjacent each other with the inner portion of bracket 11 disposed so that it can fit within the cutout 16 on the inner portion of bracket 12 and with the slots 42 and 43 in the respective outer portions 14 and aligned, as shown in FIG. 3. As indicated by the latch pin 47 shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3, the pin 47 is being loosely held at this time by eyelet 45 on the side of bracket 12. In order to secure the door 32 by the latching device, the latch pin 47 is manipulated by holding onto the knob 48 on the upper end thereof so that the vertical, lower end 53 passes through the aligned slots 43 and 42 of the brackets 12 and 11, respectively. The latch pin 47 is then pushed down so that it is in the position indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 3 in which position the inner side of the vertical terminating end 53 slideably engages the outer surface of the door bracket 11 and the inner side of the latch pin 47 above the horizontal portion 52 slideably engages the outer surface of the bracket 12. When the latch pin 47 is so positioned the eyelet 45 impresses a slight inward force on the upper end of the latch pin 47 to thereby securely lock the brackets 11 and 12 together. It should be noted that the horizontal portion 52 of the latch pin 47 has a snug fit within the slots 42 and 43 so as to prevent the door 32 from moving relative to the door frame 38.

It should now be clearly understood that by constructing the inner portion of the brackets 11 and 12 of thin sheet steel and by designing the inner portions so that they can be interfitted relative to each other so that they can lie in a common plane, the clearance required for mounting the latching device need be no more than the normal clearance provided between the vertical side of the lock side of the door 32 and the door frame 38. These constructional features are thus highly useful for providing brackets which are sufficiently strong to give the security desired while avoiding the need for mortising either the side surfaces of the door 32 or the door frame 38 in order to mount the latching device of the present invention in the door gap.

It should be further noted that since the brackets 11 and 12 of the latching device of the present invention are formed from thin, flat sheets of steel they can be inexpensively manufactured by the use of automated machinery. Thus to fabricate the door bracket 11 from a thin, flat, rectangular sheet of steel the sheet can be formed on a press to provide the bend along the area 19 thereof where the outer portion 14 integrally joins inner portion 13. Then the outer portion 14 of the bracket 11 can be similarly formed by folding back the sheet of steel to provide channel 15 for receiving the reinforcing steel strip 22. The holes 35 for the wood screws 34 can then be drilled or punched out in the inner portion 13, and the slot 42 and holes can be similarly formed in the outer portion 14. The strip can then be secured in the channel 15 by rivets 25 passing through holes 24. To fabricate the door frame bracket 12 from a thin, flat, rectangular sheet of steel the cutout 16 on the inner portion thereof can be punched out, then the sheet of steel can be formed on a press to provide the bend along the area 23 thereof where the outer portion 20 integrally joins the sides 17 and 18 comprising the inner portion of bracket 12, then the outer portion of the bracket can be similarly formed by folding back the sheet of steel to provide channel 21 for receiving the reinforcing steel strip 27. The holes 40 for the wood screws 39 can then be drilled or punched out in the sides 17 and 18 comprising the inner portion, and the slot 43, the holes and the holes 50 for the stem 46 of the eyelet 45 can be similarly formed on the outer portion 14. The strip 27 can then be secured in the channel 21 by rivets 29 passing through the holes 30.

FIG. 6 is a partial showing of an alternate embodiment of the door frame bracket designated 12 which provides an eyelet for the latch pin 47 by forming a horizontally disposed integral tab 45 on the upper end of the outer portion 20. The tab 35' is provided with a hole 55 in which latch pin 47 can be loosely held.

FIG. 7 shows that the latching device of the present invention can be alternately secured by a padlock 54 instead of the latch pin 47. Thus, with the door 32 closed, and the brackets 11 and 12 adjacently positioned, the free leg of a shackle 56 of the padlock 54 is inserted through the aligned slots 42 and 43 of the respective brackets of the latching device, and the free leg of the shackle 56 is then locked by inserting it in the body of the padlock 54. When the latching device is secured by use of the padlock 54 the latch pin 47 is held by eyelet 45 on the side of the bracket 12.

It should now be clear that the latching device of the present invention has been designed of thin sheet steel so that the inner portions of the brackets 11 and 12 can be readily mounted in the conventional gap of the doorway. The inner portions comprising each of the brackets 11 and 12 have further been designed to interfit such that they can lie in a common plane. By the use of such a construction the home dweller can be assured of being able to install the latching device in a door gap even though the door has a small clearance in the doorway. Still further, in order to reinforce the outer portions 14 and 20 of the respective brackets 11 and 12 the thin sheets of steel from which each is formed is bent back to provide channels 15 and 21, respectively, and a relatively thicker steel strip 22 and 27, respectively, is inserted in these channels to reinforce the exposed outer portions of these brackets.

While the invention has been concerned with a particular embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that many modifications and variations in the construction and arrangement thereof may be provided for without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages. The invention is therefore considered as including all such possible modifications and variations coming within the legitimate and valid scope of the claims.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new in support of Letters Patent is:

1. A latching device comprising:

a first bracket formed from a thin sheet of steel,

said first bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion formed by bending the sheet of steel back on itself to provide a channel,

a strip of steel disposed in the channel on said first bracket,

a second bracket formed from a thin sheet of steel,

said second bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion formed by bending the sheet of steel back on itself to provide a channel,

a strip of steel disposed in the channel of said second bracket,

the inner portion of said first bracket shaped to interfit within the inner portion of said second bracket and the outer portion of said brackets being provided with slots that are aligned with each other when said inner portions are in interfitting relationship, and

means passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together.

2. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the flat inner portion of said second bracket has a cutout therein to provide spaced side members in which the flat inner portion of said first bracket interfits so that the inner portions of the brackets can lie in a common plane.

3. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein each of said brackets is bent outwardly in the area where the outer portion integrally joins the inner portion to enable the outer portions to be spaced apart from each other when the inner portions thereof are in interfitting relationship.

4. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together is a latch pin.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 4 includan eyelet extending from the side of one of said brackets, and

a knob on the upper end of said latch pin,

said latch pin being inserted in said eyelet and loosely held thereon by said knob.

6. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together is the shackle of a padlock.

7. The invention in accordance with claim 5 wherein said eyelet is formed by a horizontally disposed integral tab provided on the upper end of said second bracket.

8. A gap-mounted-type door latching device comprising:

a door bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion having a reinforcing member secured thereto,

a door frame bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion having a reinforcing member secured thereto,

the inner portion of said door bracket shaped to interfit with the inner portion of said door frame bracket and at least one of the outer portions of said brackets being displaced outwardly relative to the inner portions thereof to enable the outer portions to be spaced apart when the inner portions thereof are in an interfitting relationship,

the outer portion of each of said brackets being provided with a slot,

said brackets being installed in the gap between the lock side of a door and the door frame with the inner portion of the door bracket attached to the vertical side surface of said door and the inner portion of said door frame attached to the vertical side 1 surface of said door frame,

whereby when said door is closed the inner portions of said brackets can interfit in a common plane and the outer portions of said brackets have their slots aligned,

a latch pin passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together,

said latch pin comprising a short length of steel wire having its lower half bent below a vertical portion thereof to provide a horizontal portion and a vertical terminating end, whereby when said horizontal portion is inserted in said aligned slots and said latch pin is pushed down so that said horizontal portion is seated in the slot, the vertical terminating end slideably engages the outer surface of said door bracket and the vertical portion of said latch pin above said horizontal portion slideably engages the outer surface of said door frame bracket. 

1. A latching device comprising: a first bracket formed from a thin sheet of steel, said first bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion formed by bending the sheet of steel back on itself to provide a channel, a strip of steel disposed in the channel on said first bracket, a second bracket formed from a thin sheet of steel, said second bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion formed by bending the sheet of steel back on itself to provide a channel, a strip of steel disposed in the channel of said second bracket, the inner portion of said first bracket shaped to interfit within the inner portion of said second bracket and the outer portion of said brackets being provided with slots that are aligned with each other when said inner portions are in interfitting relationship, and means passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together.
 2. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the flat inner portion of said second bracket has a cutout therein to provide spaced side members in which the flat inner portion of said first bracket interfits so that the inner portions of the brackets can lie in a common plane.
 3. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein each of said brackets is bent outwardly in the area where the outer portion integrally joins the inner portion to enable the outer portions to be spaced apart from each other when the inner portions thereof are in interfitting relationship.
 4. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together is a latch pin.
 5. The invention in accordance with claim 4 including: an eyelet extending from the side of one of said brackets, and a knob on the upper end of said Latch pin, said latch pin being inserted in said eyelet and loosely held thereon by said knob.
 6. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together is the shackle of a padlock.
 7. The invention in accordance with claim 5 wherein said eyelet is formed by a horizontally disposed integral tab provided on the upper end of said second bracket.
 8. A gap-mounted-type door latching device comprising: a door bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion having a reinforcing member secured thereto, a door frame bracket including a flat inner portion and an outer portion having a reinforcing member secured thereto, the inner portion of said door bracket shaped to interfit with the inner portion of said door frame bracket and at least one of the outer portions of said brackets being displaced outwardly relative to the inner portions thereof to enable the outer portions to be spaced apart when the inner portions thereof are in an interfitting relationship, the outer portion of each of said brackets being provided with a slot, said brackets being installed in the gap between the lock side of a door and the door frame with the inner portion of the door bracket attached to the vertical side surface of said door and the inner portion of said door frame attached to the vertical side surface of said door frame, whereby when said door is closed the inner portions of said brackets can interfit in a common plane and the outer portions of said brackets have their slots aligned, a latch pin passing through said aligned slots for fastening said brackets together, said latch pin comprising a short length of steel wire having its lower half bent below a vertical portion thereof to provide a horizontal portion and a vertical terminating end, whereby when said horizontal portion is inserted in said aligned slots and said latch pin is pushed down so that said horizontal portion is seated in the slot, the vertical terminating end slideably engages the outer surface of said door bracket and the vertical portion of said latch pin above said horizontal portion slideably engages the outer surface of said door frame bracket. 